Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2019 i The English Garden

Agnes Stevenson Agnes is a journalist specialising in Scottish gardens. She edits Scottish Gardener magazine and gardens a steeply sloping woodland in southwest Scotland. She visits the garden at Greywalls on page 38. Nicola Stocken Nicola travels all over the UK, conveying the beauty of gardens and plants through words and pictures and meeting many remarkable people. She visits Corner House Farm and Quoy of Houton in this issue. Jill Anderson Jill is a writer, author and award-winning designer, with a special interest in sustainability and organic gardening. She visits the organic kitchen garden at Dorset’s Deans Court on page 61.…

Powys, Wales This stunning two-acre garden set around a 17th-century house (not open to the public) boasts herbaceous and mixed borders that are brimming with seasonal colour. Ponds, topiary and a kitchen garden add to the magic, while mown paths leading through the glorious five-acre Coronation Meadow take you on to a newly planted orchard, pastures and ancient woodland. The steep slopes provide stunning views out across the surrounding countryside and adjoining Roundton Hill National Nature Reserve. Hurdley Hall, Hurdley, Churchstoke, Powys SY15 6DY. Opens for the National Garden Scheme on 7 July, 10.30am to 5pm. Home-made teas are available, with live music by Bishops Castle Swing Band from 2pm. Adults £5; children free.…

The Pelagian Opera Festival 28 June-7 July, Kent Enjoy opera picnics and evening cabaret in The Salutation gardens (right), with luxury hampers available. Tickets from £52. Tel: 01304 619619; the-salutation.com Cambridge Music Festival 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 July, Cambridgeshire Cambridge University Botanic Garden opens every Wednesday in July with musical performances on the lawn. Tickets: £6. Tel: 01223 336265; botanic.cam.ac.uk Orkney Garden festival 4-14 July, Orkney This festival returns with a range of open gardens and expert talks, in aid of Perennial and the neurological ward at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Tickets priced per event. Tel: 01856 811237; orkney.com The Idler Festival 12-14 July, London Hampstead’s Fenton House hosts The Idler Festival, with talks from Louis Theroux and others. Enjoy local walks and cocktails. Tickets £105. Tel: 0203 176…

MOST NOTABLE GARDENS ARE developed over a lifetime, or at least a few decades, but very few evolve as rapidly as the flower gardens at Malverleys in Hampshire. In just eight years, head gardener Mat Reese has orchestrated a series of borders that deliver an extraordinary sensory overload, peaking in spectacular style in high summer. The Italianate, pale-brick Victorian house, ten-acre garden and the 19th-century parkland that surrounds it, sit on the edge of the North Wessex Downs, south of Newbury. When its owners bought it in 2010 they hired Mat, who had worked at Kew, Wisley, and with Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter, to rethink the gardens. After a year spent observing the existing space, it was clear that the elegant house needed to be linked to the original…

• The soil at Greywalls is pure sand. You can improve the soil, and we do, but it will still be sandy, so there is no point in trying to grow meconopsis. Instead you have to look around and see what does well in this situation. • Grey-leaved plants such as lavender and sea holly (eryngium) are obvious choices, and South African plants, including crocosmia and agapanthus, thrive in the combination of sharp drainage and high levels of sunshine. Stachys attracts bees and old-fashioned pinks add scent. • No plants would flourish at Greywalls if it wasn’t for Lutyens’ elegant walls. Shelter is essential when gardening by the coast and even where windbreaks do exist, shrubs can be severely damaged by salt. • At times it is a case of…

• Caring for the soil matters a lot here. We begin preparing in November for the following year, removing small weeds, raking the soil and not stepping on it. The layers of soil aren’t mixed together; we cover it with a thick layer of garden compost to protect it from erosion by harsh winter weather. • We grow a diverse range of vegetables and flowers to attract pollinating insects. This also encourages beneficial insects that help reduce pests. • Thinking ahead and planting trees and hedges for the future has had a big impact in the garden. They play a role in the Deans Court garden by attracting nesting birds, whose young have a voracious appetite for pests. • We recycle as much as possible and we re-use a large…

Sow from mid to late October in free-draining coarse multipurpose compost. Sow single seeds into deep Rootrainers specially made for sweet peas, or sow 6-8 seeds in a 12.5cm pot. Seeds need only be planted about 5mm deep. Don’t soak or chip seed prior to sowing; this can damage the seed and isn’t necessary. Put the pots in a coldframe or greenhouse – they don’t need a propagator to germinate. “There’s nothing to be gained trying to force germination with heat – it can cause problems,” explains Roger. Water after sowing, giving the pots a good soaking, but then leave them until shoots begin to show (usually after two weeks), or you’ll risk the seed rotting. Protect against mice, and slugs and give the young seedlings as much light as…

• Blackcurrants fruit from young wood, so each winter cut out branches that are more than a couple of years old. • Cut back plants to create a stool from which young branches shoot. This will also help prevent gooseberry mildew, which thrives where air fails to circulate and roots are dry. • Big bud mite can ruin crops. Pick off infected buds in winter, or look to buying resistant varieties. • Like all soft fruits, blackcurrants will need netting to spare the crop from foraging birds, particularly pigeons.…

• On table settings, either go low or very tall so you don’t obstruct the view across the table. • I use a lot of bowls when I want impactful, sprawling arrangements. Silver punch bowls with a ball of chicken wire taped in work well. Arranging them takes time but you’ll need fewer flowers than you would if using foam. • Pick flowers 24 hours before you need them and give them a good drink so they are well conditioned. Strip them of their leaves and keep them out of full sun: give them shade.…

Orchard by Jane McMorland Hunter and Chris Kelly Pavilion, £16.99 The fruit harvest is almost upon us and with it the pressure of how to put yet another kilogram of juicy berries or plums to good use. If the prospect of bringing the next saucepan of jam to a rolling boil inspires immediate fatigue, you could do worse than escape from the heat of the kitchen to a shady spot with a cup of tea and this lyrical work on the place orchards hold in our hearts. In this book, the authors trace the cultural history of orchards from the Garden of Eden to country house orchards, via Grimms’ fairy tales and the Caucasus. Thereafter follow chapters on our most common orchard fruits: apples, pears, plums, cherries and medlars, the…

DAISY CLOUGH NURSERIES LTD A busy nursery in rural Lancashire, Daisy Clough specialises in a carefully selected range of over 700 perennials and grasses. Open seven days a week, the nursery also offers a good selection of shrubs, trees, container plants and fruit. Plenty of homegrown vegetable plants are available through spring and summer. The 2019 plant list is available to view on the website. There is a beautiful shop selling garden sundries and homeware and a fabulous new tearoom to round off your visit. Tel: 01524 793104 info@daisyclough.com | www.daisyclough.comDaisy Clough Nurseries Ltd, Station Lane, Scorton, Preston, Lancs PR3 1AN HEDGING UK Hedging UK are specialist growers of quality hedging plants. Plants are available to purchase at wholesale prices across the UK through our mail order service. Buy direct…

It’s the height of summer and gardens are cranking up a gear: borders everywhere are billowing and overflowing with colour. This issue showcases a range of gardens that are all brimming with summer joy, yet each has a very different style. At Malverleys in Hampshire, head gardener Mat Reese has its wildly romantic look under control and its seemingly unrestrained appearance is a careful, and highly skilful, orchestration. Roses and cottage garden favourites spill over the paths at Corner House Farm in Lincolnshire, meanwhile, but at Stretton Old Hall in Cheshire, pathways are neatly marked with orderly lavender and smartly aligned rows of potted olives. In what is perhaps the most northerly garden The English Garden has ever featured, Quoy of Houton on Orkney’s Mainland, plants have no choice but…

Widespread in hedgerows across the country, common honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) is also known as woodbine. In folk tradition it is considered inauspicious, with many fearing that bringing it indoors will invite illness into the home. On the other hand, a stick of hazel bound in honeysuckle is traditionally believed to bring its owner good luck. The clinging, twining nature of this sweet-scented wildflower has led to it becoming a symbol representing fidelity and steadfastness.…

LUPINUS ‘MORELLO CHERRY’ Cherry red spikes will flower in the first year from an early sowing of this lupin. VERBASCUM GNAPHALODES A rarely seen, towering species with woolly stems bearing yellow flowers. KNIPHOFIA ‘FIERY FRED’ Deep-orange flowers are freely produced on this amenable, 65cm red hot poker, made for a sunny spot. ALSTROEMERIA ‘FLAMING STAR’ This satsuma-coloured 80cm tall alstroemeria likes a sheltered spot. ALCEA ROSEA Sow biennial hollyhocks in spring and plant out during summer for tall spikes of colourful flowers next summer. ERYNGIUM ‘BIG BLUE’ One of the best eryngiums, developing stronger blue tones as the flowers mature. It’s also fantastic for bees. OENOTHERA STRICTA The foliage of this evening primrose species is tinged red, and the flowers are deliciously…

‘GRACE ’ An English Rose bred by David Austin, ‘Grace’ bears dusky apricot rosettes with a warm, tea fragrance. It can also be grown in containers. ‘GERTRUDE JEKYLL’ Ever popular, this vigorous, medium-sized English rose is one of the earliest to start flowering, its buds opening to reveal glowing pink blooms. ‘JAMES GALWAY’ A vigorous climber with large blooms packed with neatly arranged petals in soft pink. Its long, slightly arching stems are almost thornless. ‘CHARLES DE MILLS ’ Luxuriant double mulberry-coloured flowers on this old rose, which has a graceful, arching habit. It dates back to at least 1790. ‘CROCUS ROSE’ The beautifully shaped, tea-scented flowers of this English rose have cream petals on the outside, with a soft, golden-apricot centre. ‘MOLINEUX’ Golden orange then yellow blooms…

OLEARIA ‘HENRY TRAVERS ’ This evergreen shrub has grey, willow-like foliage and produces large, mauve daisy-like flowers in June. OLEARIA MACRODONTA A superb evergreen shrub for the seaside, with toothed, leathery leaves and clusters of small, daisy-like flowers. ROSA ‘ROSERAIE DE L’HAŸ ’ One of the rugosa roses, this cultivar bears strongly perfumed, rich purple-pink flowers on tough bushes. GERANIUM ‘DRAGON HEART ’ This hardy geranium will weave its way through borders, bearing large, magenta, black-eyed flowers. IRIS SIBIRICA The elegant, violet-blue blooms of Siberian irises rise from clumps of grass-like leaves. They like sun and moist but well-drained soil. GERANIUM PRATENSE ‘SPLISH SPLASH ’ Striped blooms appear from May on this hardy geranium. Cut back after flowering.…

IF YOU’VE NEVER VISITED PAINSWICK ROCOCO Garden, which is situated just outside one of the prettiest villages in the Cotswolds, do hurry there immediately. And if you already know and love it, then a return visit over the next few months is certainly in order. For until 8 September, the garden will not only offer its usual and varied delights but will also be transformed into a contemporary sculpture park. Art Unbound, a specially curated, completely singular exhibition of outdoor sculpture would be a good thing anywhere, but in Painswick the interplay between modern art and an 18th-century setting is particularly special. A Rococo garden is a wonderful thing. If those words conjure up a French painting depicting a party or courtship scene in an elaborately decorated garden, you’re on…

In recent years, the beautifully romantic cottage garden style has had something of a transformation. A twist on the traditional, if you will. Garden writer Lia Leendertz reported the emergence of this new style in The Guardian back in 2010 when the award-winning designer, Tom Stuart-Smith, alongside various others, presented their version of the classic planting style in their RHS Chelsea Flower Show gardens. Lia described this new style as “Appearing all over the show like a rather charming rash… a more naturalistic and cohesive version of cottage garden planting, held firmly in place by strong, structural lines and killer topiary.” While the differences between the old and new styles are subtle, the new one produces a simplified garden where planting still takes centre stage, but with less distraction and…

‘Ben Hope’ Resistant to big bud mite especially, and other diseases, this cultivar ripens late in the season from mid-July. Fruits are medium sized. ‘Ben More’ A later fruiting variety with good disease resistance, ‘Ben More’ develops into an ideal cup-shaped bush. Its late flowers usually miss frosts. ‘Ben Sarek’ This variety holds an RHS Award of Garden Merit, for being both high-yielding and compact, and therefore suited to container growing. ‘Ben Connan’ This variety is suitable for smaller gardens, with large and prolific fruits. It has good disease resistance and holds an Award of Garden Merit.…

INGREDIENTS 1kg mixed vine tomatoes, chopped 2 red peppers, chopped 1 cucumber, chopped 2 cloves garlic, peeled 2 shallots, peeled 175ml extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp sherry vinegar 100g sourdough bread, torn, with crust removed Salt and pepper Diced red pepper, cucumber and tomato to garnish METHOD Blend the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, shallots and garlic with the olive oil until very smooth. Strain, leaving pith and skin behind. Add the bread chunks, stir and leave for 30 minutes. Add the sherry vinegar, salt and pepper, and blend again. Serve in bowls and garnish.…

Which are your favourite herbs for high summer? I tend to go for leafy ones at this time of year. I like to grab a handful of culinary herbs, like different types of parsley, which I can sprinkle over pasta or a risotto. I keep basil indoors because I think the leaves tend to be a bit tougher when they’re grown outside. Lemon verbena is wonderful and it goes so well with all the summer fruits. I also use the flowers from my lavender hedge to make lavender sugar. Which herbs would you suggest for growing on a roof terrace or balcony?› Balconies can receive much more wind exposure than an average window box, so Mediterranean herbs like lavender, rosemary and thyme are ideal. You could also use something a…

Once upon a time, a long time ago, at the end of a long winter spent planning the garden here at Morville, I said to my husband: “It’s so real in my mind’s eye that I can walk around in it and smell the flowers. I don’t need to make it at all.” To which he replied: “You’ve got to make it so that I can see it too.” And now here I am, photographing the garden again so he can see it. For he’s back: after 17 years of amicable separation, of never seeing the garden, of not seeing the hedges fill out nor the trees grow to maturity, and of not seeing how the garden we planned together panned out. But the irony – or the tragedy –…

• Deadhead roses carefully to make the plant neater and to encourage more flowers. Snip each flowering stem back by up to three leaves. • Plant autumn-flowering bulbs such as autumn crocus, colchicums and nerines in a warm, sunny spot in the garden. • Water vegetables regularly in the evening. An effective, time-saving method is to lay a length of perforated hose along the rows. This minimises evaporation and keeps foliage dry. • Harvest shallots, onions and garlic by lifting them from the soil and leaving them to dry out and ripen. • Take cuttings of woody herbs like rosemary and sage. They’ll root within four to six weeks when you can pot them up.…

OBSERVE “When you have a new garden and lots of ideas it’s tempting to move quickly, but it’s sometimes better to observe and spend time working out and narrowing down what you want.” ENCLOSE OR OPEN IT UP “Christo always said when you first reach a site you’ve got to decide if you want to keep your view or go for shelter and shut the view out – by creating smaller garden rooms you can also create different atmospheres.” GIVE IT TIME “When you build a new garden, particularly on this scale, it takes a few years to settle down. Some things work, some don’t. Shrubs start to grow and compete with herbaceous plants, which can force your hand to change things, but all this helps make it a more…

• Keep to a relatively small palette of plants and materials to give the garden its own distinct identity. • Use perennials and grasses with qualities that give more than one season of interest, such as skeletal winter presence, attractive seedheads or leaves with autumn tints. • Unite and give the garden a sense of continuity with green architectural elements – formal clipped hedging and topiary. • Avoid strong changes in colour schemes between garden rooms next to each other. • Plant a few of the same plant ingredients through into neighbouring spaces and borders to create a visual link and a sense of rhythm. You can go from broad swathes in one area to scatterings in another. • Make the transition from house to wider countryside gradual, and let…

TUCKED DOWN A MODEST SIDE STREET IN Wimborne Minster is the entrance to Deans Court, a small, country estate just a stone’s throw from the busy centre of this small market town. Contrary to what might be expected, given the proximity of the town, once you pass through the tall iron gates, there’s an air of leafy calm. The narrow drive, enclosed on both sides by tall trees, gives few clues as to what lies beyond, but as you round the corner, the 13-acre estate begins to reveal itself. The first sight is the tall, mellow brick wall of the Vegetable Garden, with tantalising glimpses of neat rows of vegetables spied through a smart, wrought-iron gate. Deans Court dates from the 8th century and is home to William and Ali…

According to garden designer Sam Westcott (above), Denise and Alan Roberts’ garden in the picturesque Devon village of Dittisham is “a beautiful setting and a magical place to work”. The couple asked Sam to come up with a design for the multi-levelled space in 2017. Although it boasts beautiful views of the River Dart, towards Greenway, the former home of Agatha Christie, on the other side of the river, the garden itself was letting the side down. “I used to call it the car park because it was all grey stone and gravel,” says Denise, “but not now. We are absolutely thrilled with it. Sam has done such a wonderful job.” It wasn’t just a vast expanse of gravel that Sam faced. “On the terraces, it was as if every…

Get to know work, discover artists and visit sculpture parks and gardens: Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The New Art Centre at Roche Court in Wiltshire, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, and The Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden in Surrey are all fantastic places to visit and showcase the work of many different artists. The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Museum in St Ives and The Henry Moore Studios and Gardens in Herefordshire are home to the work of those two famous and remarkable artists, while the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds puts on a varied programme of exhibitions and events throughout the year. Temporary exhibitions, like Art Unbound, are held up and down the country and The Royal British Society of Sculptors is a mine of information. Use it as a resource to find…

It’s one of the unspoken rules of gardening: you can never have too many sweet peas. Filling the garden and the house with their delicious fragrance, June and July – when these easy, annual climbers are at their flowering peak – would be poorer months without them. It’s a busy time of year for Roger Parsons, who operates his sweet pea seed business – and cares for the National Collection of sweet peas and other Lathyrus species – from a small, quarter-of-an-acre site just south of Chichester in Sussex. Roger breeds his own sweet pea varieties, and flowering time is when he makes his crosses. “I’m currently focusing on trying to increase the number of flowers on a stem,” he explains. “A Spencer sweet pea normally has four flowers, or…

Summer’s bright days and long golden evenings are made for being out in the garden and now is the time to show off your gardening prowess, too. So what better than to hold an outdoor party, be it a lazy picnic with rugs, deckchairs and croquet set at the ready, or a much more formal affair – a long lunch or supper, with the table set for enjoyment as day slips into night. Take your time over food and flowers and assess garden furniture to make the most of this glorious season. ACCESSORIES Put on a show Paying attention to the finer details makes all the difference to a picnic or garden party Few people have given as much thought to outdoor entertaining as Sophie Conran, owner of the eponymous…

When they arrive at their destinations around the world, carefully packed in protective containers, and are shifted into place by mechanised rollers or a dozen unknown men, Alison Crowther’s oak sculptures carry all the excitement of the new. Yet the truth is that these magical living pieces, shaped by hand to reflect the weight of a bough, a fungal disease, a season of gales, sunlight and snow, or intermittent years of flood or drought, are already hundreds of years old. Mounted in place and surrounded by steel, glass and passing feet, or resting in the private gardens of a lucky few, their rounded organic forms retell the life of the English woodland from whence they came. English oak has always been Alison’s material of choice. While training in furniture-making at…

GREAT CHALFIELD MANOR AND GARDEN Near Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 8NH Tel:01225782239|www.nationaltrust.org.uk/great-chalfield-manor-and-garden A monkey, soldiers and griffins adorn the rooftops of this moated medieval manor, looking over the terraces of the romantic garden with topiary houses, rose garden and spring-fed fish-pond. All is lovingly looked after by the Floyd family. The manor has featured in several television dramas, including Wolf Hall. OPEN: Gardens open Tuesday 2 April to Thursday 31 October 2019, 11am to 5pm Tuesday – Thursday, 1pm to 5pm Sundays. Guided tours of the manor are available throughout the day. Please see website for admission, tour times, directions and parking. THE BISHOP’S PALACE & GARDENS, WELLS Off Market Place, Wells, Somerset BA5 2PD Tel: 01749 988111 | www.bishopspalace.org.uk Over 14 acres of spectacular RHS partner gardens, including picturesque, romantic,…